POLICE are searching for an offender who robbed a man at knifepoint in Widnes and then crashed a stolen car into a pensioner's garden wall in Halewood .

Cheshire Police were called to New Bank Road in Widnes last night after reports a man had been at home when two males knocked on his front door, threatened him at knifepoint and ordered him to hand over the keys to his Ford Focus.

The offenders then drove off in the stolen car and were spotted by officers in Halewood.

After a police chase they crashed the car into the garden wall of a bungalow on Antons Road and fled the scene.

The son of the 74-year-old woman who lives in the bungalow, who did not want to be named, said: “It was about 1am and my mum was just going to bed. She’d just turned her light off when she heard a thud.

“The car went through the front wall of the garden. She’s got wrought iron gates and they’re all damaged.

“She rang me as soon as it happened and I came straight over. There were lots of police here.

“They had the dogs out to try and find the guy but he had just ran off from the scene.

“My mum’s OK now, just a bit shaken.”

Anyone with information should contact DC Neal Davison at Widnes CID on 101.